Expert Dream Monster @cislyn@wandering.shop

And now that I've got that out of my system, I have work to do that isn't yelling at wrong people on the internet. I'm not sure why the heck I stepped into that fight (other than, hey, it shouldn't just be NB and trans folks fighting for this common sense thing) but I did, and now I'm out.

On the plus side, Kind Words continues to be kind. Thank goodness for genuinely nice experiences like that game.

This isn't hard. If you can say, with ease "aw, what a cute baby! How old are they?" or "Someone left their sunglasses on the counter. Could you page them?" then you can handle this.

And the number of people responding with "it doesn't matter" to a post about the AP getting the pronouns of a nonbinary artist wrong ON THE ARTICLE ABOUT THEM COMING OUT is just... staggering. I bet they'd think it mattered if they were consistently misgendered. Jerks.

I have made poor life choices. I am arguing with people about how singular they is actually perfectly valid and grammatically correct and for goodness sake it costs you NOTHING to be kind over on birb site. How are people this obtuse? Why are they (ha) like this? Argh.

ARGH I SAY. ARGH.

There's a reddit relationships post going around about a baby disaster gay who is totally oblivious to her flirting roommate and I ... I think we're all having the same "it me" reaction, right? Or um, is it just me...

My to-do lists have items on them about making other to-do lists. Yep. It's a Tuesday.

It rained last night, and I'm reminded once again of how well I sleep when the skies open up, when there's thunder and lightning and torrential downpour. Brains are weird, friends, but gosh, I sure did sleep in a lot today.

Oh hi, insomnia. :(

Check it out, and let me know if you have questions or are interested in the class: https://literarylevelup.substack.com/

The newsletter and course are for you if you've ever read something nifty and wanted to figure out how to do that (or, equally valid, if you've ever read something that just didn't work and wanted to figure out why, and how to avoid it in your writing). We're aiming to give you the vocabulary to talk about things, the skills to analyze, and the practical advice to apply it to your own work. Think of it like a Literary Level Up, specifically for plot and structure.

The lectures are on Sunday evenings, they'll be recorded if you miss one, & signing up includes a free subscription to all the newsletter content. The class slots will be open for just a little while longer, as we don't want folks falling too far behind and having to play catch up.

This newsletter, on the other hand, is something you can dive into at any time.

Writer friends! Here's a thing you might be interested in: I'm helping behind the scenes with an online literary plot and structure course, run by my friend Anaea Lay. Anaea is a writer, developmental editor, workshop instructor, and all-around witty pedant.

We're putting out newsletters with the course content. About half the content of the newsletter will be free, so there's plenty to sink your teeth into. There's also still room in the class (over skype), so let me know if you're interested.

Update: she's still helping.

Blizzara is so keen to help with the crocheting. And by "help" I mean "chomp".

It's raining, and I just felt all the tension go out of my shoulders. I don't know what it is about a good rainstorm, but it does this to me every time. 🌧️ 💕

The Dream Foundry does a media exploration club where we pick a theme, and then analyze different works across media for the theme. Our theme right now is "Found Families" and this month we're looking at the first two episodes of Firefly, and next month we're talking about Dragon Age: Inquisition. All these conversations are led by professionals.

I'm really enjoying geeking out about Firefly right now. If this sounds like a thing you might enjoy, come join us!

https://forum.dreamfoundry.org/topic/30/omec-found-families/73

I forgot that every time I work on this blanket, one or more of the cats wants to lay on it and/or help with the crocheting. There might be a reason it's not done yet.

Two of the kitties are heading to the vet for regular checkups today. I'm hoping it'll be relatively easy to wrangle them together (separate carriers, though, because Blizzara has gotten Rather Big). Wish me luck!

Today is for catching up on Uncanny slush and also petting cats and also maybe going for a nice walk in the arboretum.

How are y'all doing?

I had some feelings about superheroes and wrote a poem and Strange Horizons published it. Wheee! :)

http://strangehorizons.com/poetry/borrower/

Havin' a high anxiety day and whooooooo this is exhausting. Hope my hyperactive lizard brain calms down soon.